Snapshots
by EikoWest
Summary: In which Gohan returns the favour by bringing in the sunshine when his daughter Tulip is having a less than cheery day (and they conspire to beat Piccolo in a game of Tickling Wars). (Originally part of a multi-chapter entitled "Umarete Yokatta".) HanP (Gohan x Piccolo)(Warning: Set in "Fast-Forward (Future) Retroverse. More Father & Daughter Fluff. Full Warnings Inside.)


**Note**: This is part of my "Umarete Yokatta" series.【生まれてよかった】- roughly means 'I'm glad you were born' in Japanese. These are random (sort of) independent stories revolving around Gohan and Piccolo as a married couple with kid/s. This is set in the "Fast-Forward (Future) Retroverse" timeline. For clarification's sake, the "hows" of their marriage is still in the process of being told, and their offspring have yet to be given proper story introductions (as it's all part of an elaborate series of arcs I am still in the process of writing), but it isn't really necessary to wait for those to enjoy these.

_This particular story will be understood better after first reading __**"Umarete Yokatta: Homecoming"**__ & **"Umarete Yokatta: Parental"**__, respectively._

**Warnings/Tags: **Retroverse Compliant, Hurt/Comfort, Fluff (of the Cavity-Inducing Kind), Interspecies Romance, Established Relationship, Married Life With Kid(s), Gohan & Piccolo Have Kid/s!, Slice of Family Life, Daimaoh-Son Family, Papa Gohan, Daddy(/Mommy) Piccolo, Father-Daughter Relationship/Bonding, More Gohan & Tulip Mush, Teaser Story, 飯Ｐ, 腐向け

**Disclaimer:** **Dragon Ball**/**Z**/**GT**/**Xenoverse**/**Super**/etc. belong to their respective owners. **Dragon Ball Retro**, however, is my derivative brainchild, created for my personal pleasure & sublimation. I own nothing except this derivative fanwork which I do not profit from.

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Story #31:

**"Snapshots"**

(Gohan being a superhero to his own daughter when she needed rescuing from her own fears.)

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"Tulip-kun, what's wrong, sugarplum?"

"Nothing, Papa."

"Oh, c'mon. How can that be nothing? Please, open the door and tell me why you're crying?

"I'm not crying."

"You know, princess," Gohan leaned against the door of Tulip's room, a nostalgic smile forming on his lips. "You take after your daddy there. You're a terrible liar."

The demi-Saiyajin stepped back, startled, as the door became unbolted and slowly swung open to reveal his small hybrid Saiyajin-Namekian daughter.

"What are you saying? You're even worse at it, Papa."

Gohan's heart clenched. His little angel's usually beamish face was gloomy with distress.

"That's okay." He knelt down on one knee and swept aside stray wheat-golden fringe from his daughter's forehead and wiped the new tears that were welling in her eyes. "It's not something I want to be good at anyway."

Tulip sniffed and heaved and Gohan wrapped her tightly in his arms the very next moment.

"You wanna tell Papa what's wrong?" The tiny body in his arms only flung her arms around his neck and shook as more tears fell. "Awww… hey. C'mon now, I'm here for you, we're always here for you, you know that, right?" More sobs. "Remember when you told Papa to smile or you and Piccolo-san would be sad too?"

"I'm sorry, Papa!" Tulip wailed. "I don't want to make you and Daddy sad!"

Gohan picked her up, padded inside her room, and settled her on his lap, rubbing her back as he sat on the bed. After some more minutes of letting his daughter empty her tear ducts, he gently prodded.

"Is it something that happened at school?"

"No…"

"Is it something I did?"

"No!"

"Something your Daddy Piccolo did?"

At that, she broke into more fits of sniffling and heaving, the lachrymose atmosphere making it very hard for Gohan to not break down in sympathetic bawling himself.

"Princess…?"

"I- I… I dreamt that… that Daddy-!" More hiccups. "…T-that D-Daddy was dead!"

Gohan quickly hugged the tiny shaking form again, doing his best to comfort her, but he couldn't deny the horror he felt in the pit of his stomach at the idea. "Whoa, hey, there now. Hush, it's only a bad dream. That's all."

"B-but Daddy said Nameks don't dream!" she cried, "What if it's real? Like, a premonition or something?"

The young father took a deep long breath, gathering his bearings for his daughter's sake. Piccolo was usually the better one at cheering her up because more often than not, he got so distraught when Tulip was sad that his emotions got the best of him and he couldn't think straight.

The rustic wooden clock on the wall told him that Piccolo was not going to be back anytime soon. His husband was technically still interim Kamisama and he had very important business overseeing Dende's training with Nail every week at the Kami no Shinden. The teenage Namek was in the final stages of his apprenticeship and it was imperative that Piccolo and Kami guided him especially now that he was learning the crucial task of forging his own dragon balls.

He was on his own for two hours more and he was determined not to let Piccolo see them weeping like helpless new-born infants (which not to say didn't already happen once or twice before). Though thoroughly embarrassing, he just couldn't help empathize with his precious little girl when she was down; which already happened rarely enough that it would be far more disconcerting if she had her infrequent blues even less.

"I'm sorry, pumpkin." Gohan carefully pulled his daughter away just to be able to wipe her face and give what he hoped was a convincing smile. "I understand how you feel. I'd be lying if I said I didn't have those dreams too. And not just of Piccolo-san but my father, my mother, and the gang. Nightmares are normal, I'm afraid. I know it can be even more frightening to wake up from that and not be able to feel your daddy's Ki. But don't worry, it only means that he's in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber up at the temple. You know how strong your daddy is, it will take more than a nightmare or premonition to knock him down!"

Tulip bit on her trembling lip, hard. Something she did when she tried not to be sad or afraid.

"I know…" she sniffed. "It's just- i-it felt so real- a-and… it was so awful!" Tears welled up at the corners of her doleful eyes. "I was so scared!"

"It's okay, sweet pea. Let the weight off your chest as much as you need. But don't let that dream get to you because that's all it was, a dream. Everything is okay now, we're here. I'm sure your daddy is just fine. He's so strong now that he could surpass the other gods if he really wanted to! Don't forget that, your Gruncle Vegeta himself said as much, which is saying a lot! Besides, apart from that, he's got you and me watching his back! So I reckon that he's going to live a really long life whether he likes to or not, as long as we have something to say about it! And even after that, we're not going to let him bail on us that easily, won't we?"

"No…" Tulip murmured, a rickety smile slowly broadening across her face. "We won't."

"That's the spirit, princess." Gohan grinned playfully as his daughter softly chuckled. "Which is why we have to be sure we greet him with happy faces when he arrives later. We'll all cuddle by the fireplace after dinner; we'll read to him, ask him silly questions, and pester him to teach us magic until we fall asleep just like we always do on weekends, what do you say?"

Tulip sighed as she climbed down from her father's lap and sucked in a steady composing breath. Then with a big smile, she declared, "I'd like that very much, Papa!"

Gohan beams his own sunshiny smile right back at his lovely daughter before he gets tackled in a soul-crushing embrace.

"Thanks for cheering me up, Papa!"

"Anytime, sugarplum. That's what your daddy and I are here for."

"I miss Daddy so much already."

"Me too, honey bee. Me too." Gohan nuzzled their noses together in an affectionate Eskimo kiss, before turning his daughter around to leisurely comb and fix her hair. "But I know just the thing to keep us busy until he gets home!"

"What?"

"We'll play *Tag-The-Tail in the tulip fields after our gardening! I'm still the reigning champion after all!"

"No fair, you know that tulips have a soporific effect on our Namek blood!" The four-year-old said, face collected into a pout.

"Consider it training!" Gohan quipped with faked sternness. "If you beat me, you'll have the upper hand when we challenge Piccolo-san to another round of *Tickling Wars!"

"Oh, that's right!" Tulip pounded her palm passionately. "I always lose to you and Daddy when we play Tickling Wars! But I won't settle for that, no way!"

Gohan laughed, "There you go!"

"Alright, I'm game!"

After her wild Super Saiyajin locks had been neatly re-lassoed into the colossal red ribbon from her Grandmother Chi-chi, she went to wash her face and met her father at the backyard doorway already geared up in overalls and work boots for their afternoon gardening.

Half an hour of weeding and watering later had them playing a combined game of Tag-The-Tail and Tickling Wars wherein a winner couldn't be decided and they ended up rolling in the tulip fields instead, laughing so hard that their bellies ached.

Gohan's diversion had worked. Before they knew it, Piccolo was home and was aptly tackled by his husband and daughter and smothered unmercifully with kisses and hugs. They bathed, had dinner, and curled up snugly on the couch underneath a quilt in front of the fireplace afterwards. It was one of those little eternities they were certain that they were the happiest family on the planet.

Right before sleep claimed the young hybrid, she smiled, burrowing deeper in-between the warm bodies of her sleeping parents where she was sandwiched, and surely enough, the dreams she had that night were the sweetest of all.

**End(…?)**

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**Notes****:**

***Tag-The-Tail & Tickling Wars** \- mutated games I made up, obviously. Exclusive to the Daimaoh-Son family. Teehee. ❤

**To the lovelies who followed this when it was a multi-chapter entitled "Umarete Yokatta"**: I re-published the other chapters as independent stories. (I wish I could transfer your precious comments for those chapters too, but I settled for taking screencaps of it so I'd have a memento.) I apologize if you followed this or gave Kudos for any of the story instalments I separated. Cheers!

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_**Tulip-kun's Character Design Sketches**__ can be found on__** AO3**__. _  
_(Type "works/8319505" directly into the browser.)_

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(2017/04/25-2017/04/25)


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